#003

[It has been 8 days since ‘Qwerasdf’ last logged in. Mother Aellusia wonders how you are doing.]

[It has been 136 days since ‘Happy Cult Evangelist’ last logged in. Happiness wishes to speak with you.]

“What is this now?”

It happened while I was browsing through other new games, having grown a bit tired of Conclude after leaving the strategy site.

Suddenly, a Conclude pop-up appeared right in the center of the screen.

“Do package games put up pop-up ads like this these days?”

It’s not even a mobile game, so why is it sending notifications like this?

Isn’t this the kind of advertising used for games where the number of active users is critical or where there’s a monetization model?

“Did they do some kind of update?”

Unless they released a new DLC, there would be no reason to advertise for me to return.

With a glimmer of anticipation, I launched Conclude.

When I logged in with my main ID, ‘Qwerasdf’, the [New Game] button on the main screen was nowhere to be found; instead, the temple screen appeared.

“Did I not finish the game?”

Did it load a part where I had an autosave?

But if that were the case, there was no system window informing me of the current situation.

[

Mother Aellusia:

My child….]

[

Mother Aellusia:

My lovely child.]

“Oh?”

An event cutscene as soon as I turned it on?

This smells like a massive update.

[

Mother Aellusia:

Forty-nine times you have contracted with me….]

[

Mother Aellusia:

Of those, forty-three times you brought me victory.]

[

Mother Aellusia:

You were a truly excellent child.]

It’s reading my account logs.

Is this a production designed to break the fourth wall?

The trope of a game character speaking to the ‘player’ rather than the ‘player’s character’ is a bit cliché by now, but seeing it in Conclude felt fresh.

As for why Mother God appeared among the Othergods, it’s probably because she had the longest playtime on this account.

[

Mother Aellusia:

But as it repeated, did it not feel empty?]

[

Mother Aellusia:

The fact that all of this is an illusion.]

“……? What the hell is she talking about?”

It’s fun because it’s all an illusion.

If I shot people in an FPS and then found out they were real people who actually died, the problem wouldn’t be whether it’s ‘fun’ or not.

Especially in Conclude, where millions of people easily die based on my choices; if I felt regret because that was virtual, I’d be a psychopath.

[

Mother Aellusia:

Where did the things you built go? The children you bore? The world you offered to me?]

[

Mother Aellusia:

The moment you obtain everything, the world stops, and all of it becomes as if it never existed.]

[

Mother Aellusia:

How much have you lost?]

“No, what on earth….”

A game character is spouting lines like [Look at all the time you wasted on this game, don’t you feel the post-game void]?

And this isn’t even a free indie game, it’s a full-priced title??

Does this crazy game company actually want to go bankrupt?

[

Mother Aellusia:

Your time, your effort, your devotion.]

[

Mother Aellusia:

You offered all of it to me, yet you were not rewarded.]

[

Mother Aellusia:

Devotion offered to an illusion only returns as an illusion.]

“No, this is ridiculous.”

Who doesn’t know that?

Did someone in America sue them because the money they earned in a game couldn’t be spent in real life?

Is that why every game now has warning labels like ‘This is a game and everything that happens here is not reality. Please live your own real life’?

Fine, let’s say that’s true. Then what was that ad from before?

It’s not like this is a message sent to someone playing for 26 consecutive hours to prevent sudden death.

What is the point of specifically calling back someone who hasn’t been playing just to say [Hey, you game addict, look at the time you wasted on this game]?

Are they trying to piss me off?

I was about to capture the screen and post a rant about this event, but then I remembered I had left the community.

‘…I’ll just see what else she babbles about.’

If there really aren’t any additional events, perks, or achievements, I’m just going to delete the game.

Having decided that, I clicked through the dialogue.

[

Mother Aellusia:

My child. If you ‘truly’ serve me, I too can give you a ‘true’ reward.]

[

Mother Aellusia:

If it is you, even if you go to the ‘true’ Dark Realm, you will be able to bring me victory once more.]

‘Fortunately, there is something after all.’

The first part was just bait; it seemed this was indeed a teaser for a massive update.

But ‘true’?

What, is she going to transport me to another dimension or something?

I chuckled.

“This is such a cliché for game-transmigration stories.”

Now, if I press YES, will I wake up in another world the moment I open my eyes?

According to the lore of the ‘Othergods’, transporting a single person across dimensions would be a piece of cake.

[

Mother Aellusia:

Now, my child. Come join me.]

When the choice appeared shortly after, I naturally pressed No.

Just in case.

‘I wouldn’t go to some crazy medieval land like that even if they paid me billions.’

Of course, even if I pressed YES, I wouldn’t actually be transported; it would probably just open a teaser page for a sequel.

Conclude 2! True Dark Realm! Increased freedom! Pre-order now! That’s probably what would be written.

It’s a tradition for ST Games to use over-the-top bait when a new title is coming out.

This time, trying to pull it off with text production feels a bit lacking in effort.

Between that and the boring, meta-commentary lecture, they’re going to get roasted in many ways.

[

Mother Aellusia:

Why is that?]

[

Mother Aellusia:

Are you afraid you might fail? There is no need for that.]

[

Mother Aellusia:

My blessing will be with you; in fact, it will feel far too easy.]

[

Mother Aellusia:

The very blessing you all craved the most.]

‘The blessing I craved so much?’

Was there such a thing?

Mother Aellusia was so versatile that there weren’t any particular domains I felt were lacking.

In the case of the [Lord of Nightmares] among the Othergods, their physical abilities were so weak that they would be easily wiped out unless they utilized a ‘Masterless Blessing’—a kind of Hidden Piece in the game—but Mother Aellusia didn’t need anything like that.

Even if the followers found plenty of Hidden Pieces and offered them later, she didn’t really use them.

It was much faster and more economical to strengthen her using collected biological data.

Hidden Pieces only apply to a single unit, but strengthening through biological data can be applied to all units.

‘Could it be the [Unknown Creature] database?’

Come to think of it, I remember participating in a survey about ‘Blessings I wish were added to Mother Aellusia’.

At the time, I wrote [A database of creatures that do not exist in the Dark Realm].

Since Mother Aellusia can only perform [data extraction] from individuals that are alive or have only recently died, it is difficult to recreate creatures that aren’t in the Dark Realm.

That’s why there were many things she couldn’t create.

Like dragons.

Or drakes.

Or dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs, specifically.

‘I tried creating giant birds, but they didn’t feel like dinosaurs….’

[

Mother Aellusia:

Until now, my Contractor had to ‘consume’ an entire, intact specimen to perform data extraction.]

[

Mother Aellusia:

However, the blueprint of a creature, its essential elements, are inherent within every cell.]

[

Mother Aellusia:

As you wished, I have decided to grant a blessing that allows for ‘data extraction’ in a more efficient manner.]

Oh. So now, even consuming a part of it allows you to obtain all the biological data of that specimen?

She was already broken, but just how ridiculously broken of an Othergod is she trying to become with this update?

‘Wait, then if I can get just a bit of dinosaur blood from something like an ancient mosquito fossil, can’t I create dinosaurs?’

Then while dragons might be impossible, dinosaurs are possible?

The 50th playthrough is going with the archaeologist meta!

[

Mother Aellusia:

‘Reproduction’ is originally the union of ‘germ cells’.]

[

Mother Aellusia:

Now, my Contractor will be able to obtain complete biological data using only ‘germ cells’.]

However, the dream of 〈JurXsic World〉 in the Dark Realm was quickly crushed.

Germ cells.

Where on earth am I supposed to find dinosaur semen or ovaries?

They wouldn’t even be fossilized.

‘Well, it would be too broken if I could get data from somatic cells alone.’

I’d be able to create a clone just by picking up a fallen strand of hair.

In contrast, germ cells are a bit harder to obtain….

‘So now I have to go around collecting testicles and ovaries.’

A Cult Leader who eats only reproductive organs instead of hearts.

Why does that feel even more repulsive than simple cannibalism?

[

Mother Aellusia:

How is it, my child? Do you not desire this ‘Blessing of Mating’?]

……?

For a moment, I doubted my eyes.

Ma… ting?

[

Mother Aellusia:

That is not all. There are also blessings that assist in mating. A blessing that puts one in heat just by making eye contact, or a blessing that breaks the opponent with pheromones…]

“Fuck.”

I soon realized what had happened.

The ‘survey’ was a means of gathering the opinions of the majority of users.

And the group that made up the largest number of Mother Aellusia’s users were…

‘Those damn Mothergod Fanatics!’

Those filthy possibility enthusiasts.

‘They finally succeeded in making the game even more disgusting.’

I closed the game without looking further.

“I’d rather it have been a lecture telling me to stop playing.”

For a cosmic monster that can recreate anything, isn’t it normal to want to create a ‘dinosaur army’?

Mating? Maaaa-ting?

Blessing of Mating??

Wow, I feel genuinely disgusted.

Turning off the internet wasn’t the solution.

How did the game company not cut this? Are they insane?

No, at this point, the hypothesis that the developers are the true ‘possibility enthusiasts’ seems to be a fact.

If the game’s image was ruined because of users with weird tastes, they should have patched it to make such play impossible; I should have known from the start when they never did.

“They’re even tainting my memories of enjoying the game.”

You filthy possibility enthusiasts.

Let’s never meet again.

I’ll delete the game itself so I never see another notification.

I was about to press delete without hesitation when I paused.

“…There was another notification earlier.”

Besides Mother Aellusia, there was a notification from [Happiness].

A notification that came to the sub-account I created solely to beat Happiness, named [Happy Cult Evangelist].

[Happy Happy Happiness].

The only Othergod among the 16 types that was completely impossible to play properly.

The only Othergod that no one had succeeded in clearing since the game’s release.

It wasn’t that the difficulty was high; it wasn’t even on the same level.

It was simply that the game controls or the act of clearing it were impossible.

Players who were geniuses at finding loopholes to beat games clung to it day and night searching for a strategy, but even after a year, no meaningful strategy had emerged.

I, too, was once obsessed with finding a way to beat Happiness.

I even bought Conclude again to create a new account, thinking there might be some change if I received the [Devout Apostle] title—a trophy given for playing only one Othergod for over 100 hours on a single account—with ‘Happiness’.

Of course, there was no change.

Just in case, I even ran macros while I slept to obtain the [True Fanatic] title, which requires playing one Othergod for over 1,000 hours, but again, there was no change.

That’s why I gave up on it nearly five months ago.

‘If Happiness also reflected the survey, there might have been a change that makes it clearable.’

Let’s just check what update they did before deleting it.

It’s better to check now and delete it cleanly than to get curious later, search for Conclude, and have my eyes rot because of the possibility enthusiasts.

When I logged into the sub-account, I saw a pink temple, different from the previous one.

[

Happiness:

Have you returned….]

[

Happiness:

My evangelist.]

No, I’m leaving.

After I check what the update is.

I spammed the Enter key, but the dialogue didn’t skip.

[

Happiness:

I did not know.]

[

Happiness:

I only came to know after arriving at this place.]

[

Happiness:

What it was that you were doing….]

[

Happiness:

You continued to request a contract only with me.]

[

Happiness:

One thousand four hundred and twenty times.]

“Wow, was it over a thousand?”

I can’t remember since I used a macro.

Even if you skip as much as possible, it takes 4 hours to see the ending in Conclude.

If you’re the type to micro-manage even the smallest details, a single run can exceed 30 hours.

However, it’s hard to spend more than an hour on a single run with Happiness.

Because the player dies before then.

Since I ran the macro until I hit a thousand hours, that number roughly makes sense.

[

Happiness:

You died countless times. In a state of great unHappinesss.]

[

Happiness:

Believing only in me….]

‘I guess the game play history is reflected roughly.’

When I ran macros with Happiness, I always added traits like [Anhedonia], [Emotional Deficiency], and [Depression] to the Cult Leader Unit.

Because without these traits, the moment you contract with Happy Happy Happiness, you fall into a state of [Ultimate Happy-Happy] and become unable to control the character.

Therefore, paradoxically, the Happy Cult Leader had to be someone who could not feel Happinesss at all.

[

Happiness:

You did not find Happinesss through me.]

[

Happiness:

Then why did you believe in me so desperately?]

[

Happiness:

Why…?]

This time, instead of a choice, a text input window appeared.

As if they truly wanted an answer from me.

‘Obviously because I wanted to all-clear the game. What other reason would there be?’